Elm Park’s brighter future

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2012 at 6:00 AM

By Joseph M. Petty

In my inaugural address as mayor, I pledged to lead a public initiative to renovate one of our city’s true treasures, Elm Park.

Elm Park is perhaps our most utilized and beloved city park. The park is one of the oldest in the United States and Worcester has enjoyed its Frederick Law Olmstead design for over a century. Today, all aspects of our community use the park, including residents and children from the surrounding neighborhoods, local workers, and visitors, both city residents and nonresidents alike.

However, the park has not seen any major renovations or restorations since the 1980s, and the strains of years of constant use are becoming all too apparent. Elm Park needs and deserves our attention to ensure it continues to serve our city as a source of pride.

To date, we have made great strides in the process to renovate and rehabilitate Elm Park. I have convened the Mayor’s Task Force on Elm Park, which brings together neighborhood residents, elected officials, local businesses, and members of the city administration into conversations addressing the current conditions and future opportunities in the park. The goal of the task force is to develop partnerships between the community, the government, and the private sector, to reinvigorate and expand the opportunities for the public at Elm Park.

Currently, the task force, during its general meetings and in various subcommittees, is actively considering infrastructure investments and expanded programming opportunities for the park as well as developing a comprehensive fundraising plan to leverage public/private partnerships to complete these recommendations.

In the coming months, the task force will outline a strategy to utilize these partnerships to raise additional funding to restore the park.

I have charged this task force with making recommendations not only on future improvements to Elm Park, but also on the sustainability of these improvements. To this end, the task force is considering the development of a nonprofit volunteer-driven organization which will exist to provide continued maintenance and programming opportunities for Elm Park.

The task force envisions this organization to resemble the Friends of the Public Gardens in Boston, which is a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving and advocating for the Boston Public Garden through fundraising and work of an active core group of volunteers and members. It is my hope that with public/private partnerships supporting such an organization we will be able to provide additional permanent support for the park, helping to maintain Elm Park at a new level of excellence.

Further, the city is about to begin the first phase of infrastructure renovations in Elm Park.

In June, the City Council and I authorized the use of $1 million in conjunction with a $500,000 commonwealth of Massachusetts PARC Grant secured in 2011 through collaboration with the Patrick-Murray administration for initial infrastructure improvements.

This funding will allow the Parks Division to address underlying infrastructure needs in the most used areas of the park. The work in this phase of construction has been bid and is in the process of award. The work will include new walkways, complete renovation of the park walkway lighting, rehabilitation of the playground area, including new picnic tables and benches, as well as upgrades to the electrical and storm water infrastructure. The total cost of this phase will be approximately $1.25 million and will be completed in the summer of 2013.

I am committed to ensuring Elm Park continues to serve the diversity of its visitors and our city. It is my plan to host public hearings of the Mayor’s Task Force on Elm Park once its draft recommendations are completed. These public hearings will allow for public input from the neighborhood, community, and regular visitors to the park. I look forward to these public discussions about the future of Elm Park. The park’s varied and constant usage demands that all the voices utilizing the park are heard and involved in its rebirth.

I am confident the continued collaboration between the task force, city administration, and community will guarantee Elm Park will serve our city well into the 21st century.